Building up a Linux Home Server

My trusted Buffalo LS2 has finally call up its day.. all because of me .. as per my previous posting about the NAS. I broke the ribbon cable and I don't really fancy trying to desolder/resolder back the cable. I was eyeing a NAS replacement, mainly a Buffalo Linkstation Live + Torrent (1TB) which has price tag of RM600 but since I've 1TB WD HD already, I was thinking of building my own home server. I don't fancy going to LowYat due to many reasons .. among them 1) it always packed with people 2) it is hard to get a parking 3) I don't want to stuck in KL jam .. so, I headed up to LowYat's Forum instead. Initially, was looking for a better looking HTPC enclosure but ughh.. at RM400 w/o power supply, I ended up getting a chepo AOpen's Transformer look enclosure.

The following parts were ordered today:

Aopen G326/Black w/ 400W 12cm fan PSU : RM 269

Intel Atom D945GCLF2 (ATOM 330) w/ Built-in 1.6Ghz Dual Core ITX Mobo : RM 280

Kingmax 1GB DDR2/800 RM 88

Postage for the above is RM12 as quoted. With RM649, I believe it is worth more than a purpose built NAS.

Since Saturday is a Public Holiday, I guess I'm getting the parts on Monday .. surely couldn't wait to put them together.

Anyway, the OS of choice will be either Debian/Lenny or Ubuntu Server though someone has suggested OpenSolaris because of the ZFS file system. I'm more inclined to Linux since I've been using it since ages ago.

Update Mon 19/10: Received the motherboard/process + RAM. Still waiting for the enclosure.

Update Tue 20/10: Received the casing now and done building up the system. Tried booting the Ubuntu Server installation disc from USB but it won't work.. had to install old CD ROM to the server now.